School doesn't cheer stunt

RIPON - Six Ripon High School cheerleaders, who at a game last week flashed a message written on their backsides, are fighting the suspensions they received as result.

Jake Armstrong

RIPON - Six Ripon High School cheerleaders, who at a game last week flashed a message written on their backsides, are fighting the suspensions they received as result.

Each cheerleader was suspended for two days this week by Vice Principal Ken Goeken, who ordered the girls off the field when they defied their coach and continued with a routine they planned especially for the last game of the football season. The cheerleaders ended the routine by bending over, lifting their skirts and showing the crowd the words "Indians No. 1" spelled on their bloomers.

A two-day suspension is too much, said the cheerleaders and their parents, who are appealing the suspension with the school district's superintendent.

Cheerleader Michelle Capriulo, who along with the five others was suspended from school Tuesday and Wednesday, said the group should have paid some penance for disrespecting Goeken. Maybe they should be barred from cheering at the next basketball game, she offered.

"But a two-day suspension is ridiculous," said Capriulo, 17.

She and other cheerleaders missed reading the last two scenes of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" with the rest of their class and worry their grades might be affected by the suspension.

Capriulo said the cheerleaders have been at odds with their cheer coach and did not tell her about the routine they planned to mark their last season together.

Ripon Unified School District Superintendent Leo Zuber is investigating the suspensions. He said he met with parents Thursday and will make a decision by Wednesday.

If Zuber finds the suspensions were inappropriate, the girls will be able to make up any class work missed during their suspensions.

Citing student confidentiality laws, Goeken said he could not comment on the suspensions.

Guy Capriulo, the cheerleader's father, said the suspension unfairly kept his daughter out of school rather than off the sidelines.

"If a football player is out of line, they get suspended from a game. Why are they keeping them (the cheerleaders) from their educational studies?" Capriulo asked.